BINDERY IN THE LIBRARY BUILDING
How large an amount of binding must a library have before it becomes economical to establish a bindery in the library building? This question is frequently asked and is difficult to answer. In the first place, local conditions must be taken into consideration. Is there in the same city a library bindery which does satisfactory work at reasonable prices, or must work be sent a long distance away? Is there ample room in the building and is it easily adapted to binding purposes? Can a good foreman be employed? Is the local rate of wages so high as to make the cost of the binding in the library equal the cost in a good bindery outside the city? These are some of the questions which must be considered.
Some of the advantages in having a bindery in the building are as follows:
1. It is more convenient. When books are much needed they can be found and generally used, even if incompletely bound.
2. There is less chance of losing books. When books are sent to a binder who does the work of other libraries also there is always a chance of loss. The binder, of course, is responsible, but one would always rather have the book than the cash value.
3. There is no chance of damage to books in transit.
4. Repairs which are too difficult for the ordinary library mender to make can easily be done in the library bindery at slight cost.
5. The books need not as a rule spend so long a time in the bindery. If perchance the bindery becomes clogged with extra work the librarian can rush the books that are needed most. If such books are in another bindery, especially when that bindery is outside the city, it is difficult to get the books that are needed first.
6. There is a certain amount of competition which works to advantage if part of the books have to be bound outside. The outside binder knows that the librarian who operates a bindery in his own building knows something about the cost of binding, and he realizes that unless his prices are reasonable and his work good he need not expect to be favored.
7. The librarian can at all times inspect materials on hand and see the books in the process of binding. The bindery outside the building can sometimes substitute inferior materials without fear of detection for many months.
8. When the work reaches a certain amount it can be done at reduced cost in the library, since the ordinary profits of the bindery will accrue to the library.
9. It is much easier to make experiments with new materials or new processes. While the outside binder does not care to get a small quantity of a new material, the library which owns its own bindery can do so easily.
10. A bindery in the library can do much work, such as the mounting of maps or photographs, gilding of call numbers and book-mending, which needs skilled workmen. Such work frequently remains undone, either because the regular library force has no time to do it or because it seems unwise to send it outside the library.
Such are some of the benefits, but only the larger libraries which bind many thousands of volumes can take advantage of them successfully from the financial standpoint. In order to be administered economically there must be sufficient work to keep several workmen busy. It probably is not wise to open a bindery when the annual expenditure for binding is less than $4,000.
There are two ways in which a library bindery may be administered. Under the first plan the library buys all material and hires all the workmen, employing a foreman on salary to take charge. A schedule of prices which is lower than the prices paid to outside binders should be adopted, and the total value of binding in a year based on this schedule must equal the cost of material, wages and depreciation on the value of the plant. Under this plan the work may be unexcelled in quality, but there is no incentive to produce it in quantity. So long as the work turned out balances the outlay the employees, unless they are exceptionally conscientious, are satisfied. There is also the added difficulty of finding a competent foreman. Any man who is able to manage a library bindery successfully is able to manage any bindery successfully and he will not be willing to work for the salary which the library can afford to pay. The librarian himself, harassed as he is with many problems, must of necessity leave such matters as the purchase of material and the hiring of workmen to the foreman in whom he must have implicit confidence. The librarian cannot assume the same attitude toward his bindery foreman that the proprietor of a regular bindery may assume. He is not skilled in the craft, does not know about materials, especially leathers, and cannot direct the work.
Under the second plan the library lets the work out by contract to some binder who agrees to do the work in the building. The contractor is under no expense for rent, heat and light, and in arranging prices this is taken into consideration. It is obvious that it is to the interest of the binder to turn out as large a number of books as possible. Since the librarian has safeguarded the library in the contract by specifying that all materials and work must meet with his approval, this plan is more advantageous to him than the former plan. The contract should allow for frequent revision of schedule.
Under the first plan the librarian will be obliged to buy all machinery, tools and materials, and to hire the workmen. Under the second plan he may have to buy the machinery and tools, but the purchase of materials and the hiring of labor will be in the hands of the contractor.
A good binding plant will contain the articles in the following list. Those marked * are necessary, even when the amount of work turned out is small:
The total cost of the plant will vary in various sections of the country, but it ought not to cost more than $800. If second-hand cutting machines, benches, etc., can be obtained it is possible that the cost may be reduced to $650 or less. The St. Louis Public Library recently equipped a bindery at a cost of $587. During the first year, with a force of fifteen, it turned out work to the value of $9,609.